‘The Challenge’ Star Laurel Stucky Revealed She Was Sexually Assaulted at 21-Years-Old
Ten years ago, rookie Laurel Stucky debuted on The Challenge with a dominating performance. Even though Laurel had an intimidating attitude and got mean when she drank, there was a strength about her that went beyond her years and past her athletic abilities.
Recently, Laurel took to Instagram to reveal a tragic story about her past to raise awareness of the importance of consent.
*TRIGGER WARNING: THIS ARTICLE DISCUSSES SEXUAL ASSAULT.
Laurel Stucky ‘The Challenge’ history
In 2010, then 25-year-old Laurel Stucky made her Challenge debut in the 19th season, Fresh Meat II, as Kenny Santucci’s partner. The duo finished as runners-up, and Laurel received $30,000.
She returned for the next season, Cutthroat, and again placed second, this time receiving $20,000. Laurel came back in Rivals for the win but finished second, earning $26,000.
In Free Agents, she competed for the first time without a partner and finally won the competition and $125,000. After taking a break for four seasons, Laurel returned for Invasion of the Champions but lost to Camila Nakagawa, barely missing out on third place.
Five seasons later, Laurel came back but lost in the Proving Ground to Natalie “Ninja” Duran in the fourth episode. A few months later, she appeared on MTV’s Ex on the Beach: Peak of Love as Nicole Zanatta’ ex, the first show she has done outside of The Challenge.
The Michigan-native ended up not finding love on the show as her ex-girlfriend had moved on, so her housemates voted her off the peak.
Laurel Stucky revealed she was sexually assaulted at the age of 21
On January 28, 2020, Laurel posted a picture of herself to her private Instagram account wearing a hoodie at the beach and detailed a horrific experience she went through in her caption to share the “importance of consent.”
She began by admitting she had not shared her story with anyone “outside her close circle of friends.” Laurel then admitted someone sexually assaulted her as a virgin at the age of 21.
She continued and explained what consent looked like and revealed her life was “critically altered because someone couldn’t have just made sure I was okay with what was happening.”
The Challenge star also said she would’ve said no if the person would have asked her and consequently struggled with “taking control” of her choices afterward.
Now that Laurel has her platform, she wanted to share her story and promote others who believe the same thing “to compensate for a very important choice being taken away from me.”
Several of her Challenge co-stars applauded her courage for coming forward, including Dee Nguyen, Ashley Mitchell, Jemmye Carroll, Devyn Simone, Aneesa Ferreira, and Jennifer West.
A few days later, Laurel shared a direct message she received from a follower who had a similar experience and advised, “When this happened to me, I thought if I tried to pretend like it never happened, I could erase it. Talking about how you feel is so important. Try not to make the same mistake as me – tell your friends, tell a stranger, a therapist, write. Talk so you can release the pain.”
